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Marco Rubio: Same-sex marriage bill ‘a stupid waste of time’

Schumer signals plan to bring measure to Senate floor

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Marco Rubio called the Respect for Marriage Act "a stupid waste of time." (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) left no question Wednesday about where he stands on legislation to codify same-sex marriage, telling reporters the measure is a “stupid waste of time.”

“That bill’s not important. It’s a waste of our time on a non issue,” Rubio said, according to Business Insider’s Bryan Metzger. “But I know plenty of gay people in Florida that are pissed off about gas prices.”

Rubio’s remarks are consistent with his comment in previous years in opposition to same-sex marriage. As a presidential candidate in 2015, Rubio said the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges is “not settled law” and compared the decision to Roe v. Wade, which justices recently overturned in the Dobbs decision.

The Florida Republican was asked his views on the Respect for Marriage Act, which the House approved Tuesday on a bipartisan basis in an effort to protect same-sex marriage after the ruling in the Dobbs case, as reporters on Capitol Hill sought to determine whether sufficient GOP support exists in the Senate to end a filibuster.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the Senate floor Wednesday he was counting votes and plans to bring the measure to a floor vote.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), now a critic of former President Trump but formerly a champion of a proposed constitutional amendment that would have banned same-sex marriage nationwide, said the House bill was “unnecessary,” according to Politico’s Burgess Everett.

“I haven’t given consideration to that legislation, in part because the law isn’t changing and there’s no indication that it will,” Romney was quoted as saying.

“I was really impressed by how much bipartisan support it got in the House,” Schumer said, according to the Washington Post. “I want to bring this bill to the floor, and we’re working to get the necessary Senate Republican support to ensure it would pass.”

Republicans who signaled support for the legislation include Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who said he’d seek to co-sponsor the Senate version of the bill, and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who told reporters he “probably will” vote for it.

One Democratic holdout may be Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who once had the distinction of being the only member of the Senate Democratic caucus not to have come out in favor of same-sex marriage.

Manchin, however, signaled general support for the Respect for Marriage Act when asked Wednesday about the legislation, according to CNN’s Manu Raju.

“I haven’t seen the final print but I don’t have a problem,” Manchin was quoted as saying.

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Hungary

Hungarian authorities lift Budapest Pride ban

Country’s new government took office last month

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Budapest Pride participants march over the Erzsebet Bridge in Budapest, Hungary, on June 28, 2025, despite an official ban. The country's new government will allow this year's Budapest Pride march to take place without restrictions. (Courtesy photo)

Hungarian police on May 29 announced they will allow the annual Budapest Pride march to take place.

“The Budapest Metropolitan Police has approved the 2026 Budapest Pride Parade and also has issued restrictive orders in relation to three counter-demonstrations,” a Budapest Metropolitan Police spokesperson told Politico.

Budapest is Hungary’s capital and largest city.

Hungarian lawmakers last year passed a bill that banned Pride events and allowed authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify participants. MPs later amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.

More than 100,000 people defied the ban and participated in last year’s Budapest Pride parade. The event became one of the largest protests against then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government since he took office in 2010.

Prime Minister Péter Magyar took office last month after his center-right Tisza party ousted Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition in elections that took place on April 12. The European Union’s top court, the EU Court of Justice, days after Orbán’s ouster struck down Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law that MPs approved in 2021.

The EU on May 29 announced it will release more than €16 billion ($18.59 billion) in funds to Hungary that it withheld while Orbán was in office.

The Budapest Pride march will take place on June 27.

“We will march freely in fresh air for our rights, for the democratic Hungary,” said Budapest Pride on its Facebook page.

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Colombia

Claudia López comes up short in Colombian presidential election

Former Bogotá mayor would have been country’s first lesbian head of government

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Former Bogotá Mayor Claudia López speaks at the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute's International LGBTQ Leaders Conference in D.C. on Dec. 7, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Former Bogotá Mayor Claudia López on Sunday finished fifth in the first round of Colombia’s presidential election.

López, a centrist who ran as an independent, received 225,517 votes. This figure is .95 percent of the total votes cast.

López was the Colombian capital’s mayor from 2020-2023. She was a member of the Colombian Senate from 2014-2018. López, whose wife is outgoing Colombian Sen. Angélica Lozano, would have become the country’s first female and first lesbian president if she would have won the election.

The LGBTQ+ Victory Institute honored López in D.C. in 2024.

“We need to listen to each other again, we need to have a coffee with each other again, we need to touch each other’s skin,” she told the Washington Blade during an interview. She hadn’t yet declared her candidacy, and did not specifically discuss her plans to run.

Runoff to take place June 21

Abrelardo de la Espriella, a far-right lawyer who has praised U.S. President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, on Sunday finished first with 43.74 percent of the vote. Senator Iván Cepeda, a member of outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s Historic Pact party, came in second with 40.9 percent of the vote.

Neither men received a majority of votes. A runoff between them will take place on June 21.

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Ghana

Ghanaian lawmakers approve anti-LGBTQ bill

Measure that would criminalize allyship awaits president’s signature

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Ghanaian flag (Public domain photo from Pixabay)

Ghanaian lawmakers on Friday approved a bill that would, among other things, criminalize LGBTQ allyship.

Reuters reported MPs approved the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, in a voice vote after parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee backed it.

MPs in 2024 approved a similar bill, but it faced legal challenges and then-President Nana Akufo-Addo didn’t sign it. Lawmakers last year reintroduced the measure after President John Dramani Mahama took office.

The bill awaits his signature.

Rightify Ghana, a Ghanaian LGBTQ advocacy group, in a series of social media posts notes MPs passed the bill days before the 4th African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family Values and Sovereignty will take place in Accra, the country’s capital.

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